Al Qaeda In Iraq Claims Jordan

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Claims Jordan Bombings

Jordanians held an anti-terrorism demonstration in Amman on Thursday to protest the hotel bombings. The death toll rose to 59.

The Times of London reported that

“Bashir Nafeh, director of military intelligence chief in the West Bank, was named as being among the dead. He had stopped in Amman with Colonel Abed Allun, a high-ranking security official, and Rawhi Futtah, the commercial attache at the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt and brother of the speaker in the Palestinian parliament. All three were staying in the Grand Hyatt.”

There is already a big struggle within the Palestinian community over secular nationalsm versus Muslim fundamentalism. One wonders if this tragic incient will affect the terms of the debate.

“Al-Qaeda in Iraq” explained that it hit the hotels because they were used by Iraqi and Western intelligence agencies to fight fundamentalists, and were centers of iniquity. It should be pointed out that on the ground in Iraq, nobody talks of “al-Qaeda in Iraq.” And, we have no idea who is posting these messages. It could be the Baath military intelligence.

Tony Karon believes that the Jordan bombings will hasten a split between the remnants of the Baath Party and the Zarqawi faction.

Personally, I’m not so sure the Iraqi Baath is not behind it. I think they often use Zarqawi as a cover for horrible things that they themselves actually do. They have an old feud with the Hashemites, and they are angry about Jordan’s alliance with the US. As Amman becomes a forward staging ground for all sorts of US and Iraqi government meetings and planning, it becames a target for the Iraqi guerrilla movement.